Circular Cities for sustained post-COVID recovery
Research findings October 2020
Table of Contents Introduction
p. 3
Context Circular Cities as Secret Weapons
p. 4
Guiding Frameworks
p. 5
City Model
p. 6
Mapping the maturity model
p. 7
Six Emerging Findings Summary of findings
p. 9
Beyond recycling – recurring sectors
p. 10
Tool to solve existing challenges
p. 11
City Levers
p. 11
Circularity as a source of resilience post COVID-19
p. 12
Key Ingredients
p. 13
Measuring & Monitoring Circularity
p. 14
Recommendations Getting Started
p. 15
Further Research
p. 16
Conclusion: Vision for Circular Cities
p. 17
Appendices
p. 18
Introduction This report is intended for cities of varying contexts that may be at any stage of their circularity journey. It offers insights, case experience, frameworks, and practical recommendations to inform and stimulate action in cities as they strive to become circular city leaders. It also addresses how circularity helps build resilience to recover from and sustain improvements post-COVID. It captures the result of research undertaken by an Imperial College Business School research team, commissioned and supported by UrbanDNA. Purpose • Explore the current application of circular economy at the city-scale • Investigate the interaction between circular city development and the COVID pandemic Approach • Desk research looking at circularity initiatives to identify best practices Inventory of more than 300 projects and actions in 36 cities across the world • Engagement in focused interviews with circularity city managers across most world continents Deliverables 1. Key emerging findings derived from interviews and desk research 2. A roadmap for cities of various contexts to start and/or expand their circularity journey, informed by desk research and input from city administrators and circular economy practitioners 3. Initial exploration of a Circular City Maturity Model This project is a partnership between:
Imperial College Business School A leading institution training the next generation of Climate Change, Management and Finance practitioners
A city transformation advisory partnership working globally on inventing a new model of urbanism
3
Circular Cities: a secret weapon A circular city goes beyond the principles of a circular economy. The main motives are centred around building wider public value as opposed to improving the economic sector alone – the secret weapon to successful uptake. Businesses tend to be motivated by economic metrics, and are open to collaborate on circular initiatives if it is neutral or positive to their own performance. ‘City Hall’ brings a neutral convening influence to help fairly balance financial returns amongst businesses, and more importantly deliver public value – an urban system that is regenerative and accessibile1. Circular City is made of four key pillars (see the figure below) all interdependent. Circular Economy Supporting a circular economy for local growth and development
Circular Locality2 Linking a circular thinking to a place or specific area
Circular People
Circular Design
Incentivising circular conscious behaviours amongst communities
Promoting circular designs in the build environment and local infrastructures
Circular City is a tool to close the carbon and resource loops. The proximity of local activities allows a local business to immediately close gaps on noncircular supply chains based on the available local supply options to achieve carbon neutrality and economic resilience. The lack of understanding on circularity may explain why many leaders fail. The bias to see circularity only through the economic eye limits the potential to apply holistic circular thinking by touching only at one community. City administrators say circular cities are… “difficult to provide a single definition – depends on which department you ask” “Circular cities address skill needs for people” 1
“cities that builds its economy initially around circular principles - zero waste, abilities to re-manufacture, re-use. ” “It does not only mean recycling waste!”
(Gorard, L. & Nocca, F., 2019), 2 Commuting Zone
4
No lack of guidance Although circularity in cities is still a “work in progress” in both theory and practice, there are several guiding frameworks to base first steps on. A significant number of frameworks have been developed in various cities and institutions to better understand the urban metabolism. When it comes to circularity and integrating it into city priorities, models such as the Amsterdam City Doughnut and Peterborough’s “City Systems within context” have shown to be valuable tools. Their principles were used as an inspiration to analyse more than 35 cities worldwide through the lens of circularity.
3
City Systems within context3
Amsterdam City Doughnut4
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s policy levers5 to set the enabling conditions for circular economy transitions helped to shape and inform the interview questions with city administrators.
The globally agreed upon Sustainable Development Goals provide a strong supporting framework, especially SDG 12. Its targets are an excellent starting point for cities to explore and measure circularity.
Circular Peterborough, 4Amsterdam City Doughnut,
5Ellen
MacArthur Foundation. Policy Levers.
5
Understanding what a city is made of Viewing cities systemically and consistently is vital to implement circular concepts. Despite all being unique, cities – like humans – have a similar DNA that can be assessed and analysed. Decomposing cities into different elements will help leaders to start with ease the circular journey. The City Model framework6 was used developed by a collaboration between UrbanDNA & Smart Cities Council. It considers cities from three perspectives – namely (i) City Responsibilities, (ii) General Enablers and (iii) Digital Transformation. This framework was used in the analysis notably for the selection of active sectors.
‘VERTICAL’ DOMAIN: CITY RESPONSIBILITIES Includes obligatory and elective city infrastructure and services. Includes regional and state provided services that the city has a responsibility to ensure are appropriately in place and functioning. Addresses externally commissioned, concession, or convened services and infrastructures from industry and third sector. Addresses policy, outcomes, operations, and performance. HORIZONTAL GENERAL ENABLERS (CROSS-CUTTING) ‘Traditional’ city-wide responsibilities and capabilities that are common to all or many of a city’s infrastructures and services. Typically ‘city hall’ led or convened / coordinated. May be of a strategic, tactical or operational nature DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION (CROSS-CUTTING) Infrastructures and services that are enabled by (modern) technologies and data management approaches. A focus on opportunities to step-change / transform outcomes.
6 (G.
Colcllough, Urban DNA, 2019)
6
Circularity Maturity Model a step to track progress Circularity is not easily measured, which makes it difficult for cities to assess their progress and showcase their success on the way towards becoming more circular. Building on the analysis of the guiding frameworks, a novel and consistent city maturity model was developed to assess where cities stand on the path towards becoming a circular city. This model uses a pragmatic approach that outlines 3 stages of development, respectively: Circular Aware, Maker, and Leader – based on 6 different criteria:
Level of Maturity
Circular Aware
Circular Maker
Circular Leader
A city aware of the concept developing plans and strategies for a circular city vision
A city with a clear vision amongst stakeholders and evidences of circular city projects
A city proactively implementing circular initiatives and tracking profess with the entire city ecosystem
Circularity Criteria
Application Examples city X
Overarching circularity policy Existing city policy are related to circularity and how are they performing Strategy and roadmap Any existing roadmap or strategy in place to promote the local vision of circularity Sector coverage To what extend circularity is been applied across various sectors in the economy Involvement of private and public sectors The number of public private initiatives related to circularity Translating policy into concrete projects How many projects are currently deployed or planned about circular city Quantification of impacts and monitoring To what extend the city has a clear measurement system with specific indicators to measure the local circularity impact
•
circular economy policy
•
•
•
Strategy and roadmap
•
•
•
public & private sectors
•
•
• •
Circular projects
Clear ambition targeting circular economy (not luck) Holistic vision of CE and understanding that it requires a systemic change Good understanding of the city’s current situation and of the material flows
•
Clear short- and mediumterm targets and objectives Detailed action plan per sector to reach targets
•
• •
•
Wide coverage of the sectors • considered for the study (at least one project or initiative per sector) In-depth coverage of at least • 2 or 3 sectors showing that CE is guiding the strategy
Establishes cooperation and communication between public and private actors Knowledge sharing between stakeholders and constant feedback is given by project leaders City policy serves as a CE enabler for private actors
•
Concrete CE projects already implemented Projects reflect the overarching strategy
•
•
•
•
Impacts and monitoring
Circular Maker
•
•
Sector coverage
city y
Circular Leader
Criteria
•
Clear methodology for measuring and quantifying impacts of CE projects Existing projects are already being monitored and a first set of impacts can be presented
•
•
Circular Aware
Recent ambition of putting CE at the forefront of the agenda Good understanding of the CE concepts Difficulty outlining a consistent overarching policy
•
Some strategic elements around CE initiatives CE might be integrated in the strategy for a specific department or sector Roadmap is quite blurry and doesn’t allow for a real implementation of CE
•
Coverage of most of the sectors – there might be one sector which has been left aside Inequality in sector coverage: some sectors are covered quite in-depth while less focus is being put on others, reflecting the differences in strategy across sectors Public policy can enable some private initiatives Cooperation between private and public actors in some specific sectors, but no cross-sectoral communication
•
Part of the strategy outlined has not yet been implemented through concrete projects Some projects are the result of private initiatives, without any link with the city strategy
•
Projects are not the result of a public policy process
Monitoring methods might have been created at the sector or department level Impact quantification is still limited and is not used to motivate new projects
•
Monitoring of projects is done at the project level, without an overarching methodology Poor quantification of impacts
•
•
•
•
•
•
No overarching policy targeting circular economy Understanding of some circular economy concepts but lack of holistic vision
Lack of vision on where the city needs to be towards CE in 5 or 10 years CE isn’t at the core of the strategy, it’s rather included “randomly” in some projects More than 1 sector is not covered at all CE is integrated in some sectors but it’s rather due to luck and not to a clear ambition of putting CE as the guiding principle
No real support from local authorities to businesses and private actors Sporadic, independent, private-led initiatives without any communication between stakeholders
Further details on the maturity model can be found in Appendix
7
Mapping Cities Circular Performance Most circular leaders are located in Europe. The map below shows the 36 cities analysed across 22 countries during the desk research phase. It highlights which cities are considered circular leaders, makers or aware. Cities in Europe were found to be the most advanced when it comes to circularity, as almost every city considered Circular Leader is in Europe, with the exception of Singapore. Cities in developing countries, such as Medellin or Belo Horizonte, still have a long way to go to achieve circular leadership. Cities in North America and Asia were also found to be lagging behind when it comes to integrating circularity in the heart of city management.
Circular Leader Circular Maker Circular Aware
Indicative Cities Performance Circular Aware Belo Horizonte Berlin Cape Town Ghent Gothenburg Johannesburg Kristiansand Medellin Seoul Shenzhen Toulouse
Avec Bing Š GeoNames, Microsoft, Navinfo, TomTom, Wikipedia
Circular Makers
Circular Leaders
Brussels Copenhagen Glasgow Melbourne New York Phoenix Samso San Francisco Tel Aviv Toronto Venlo
Amsterdam Brighton & Hove Eindhoven Helsinki Ljubljana London Maribor Milan Paris Peterborough Rotterdam Singapore
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Six Principal Findings
Interviews with cities alongside extensive desk research has provided 6 consistent key messages regarding the journey towards fully functioning Circular Cities
1
Circular cities go beyond recycling. They apply circularity in a flexible, innovative & systemic way across multiple sectors
2
Circularity can be used as a tool to respond to existing priorities and challenges - not just ‘another agenda item’
3
By leading with action, cities are becoming enablers of wider action and conveners of stakeholders across the city system
4
Circular cities serve as a source of resilience in a postCOVID world - however not without challenges from the short-term pressures for a speedy economic recovery
5
4 core ingredients emerge for successful circular city implementation
6
Measuring and monitoring circularity is a minefield. A Simple and pragmatic way forward is needed
9
1
Beyond Recycling:
Circular solutions work across a diverse range of sectors
Although waste management is what comes to mind first when thinking about circularity, cities are currently exploring how circularity can go beyond through these 8 recurring sectors. There are still huge opportunities waiting to be captured in order to create an overall more connected system. Built Environment
Mobility & Logistics
Food
Economic Development
Knowledge Sharing
Current Circularity Integration across Sectors
Water & Wastewater Management
a) Energy
Waste Management
Opportunities in these sectors are introduced below and are further elaborated in the Appendix with sector and city-level case studies. 1. Built Environment
Design of circular urban areas through buildings/material usage to improve biodiversity, ecosystem services and degraded areas. Infrastructure lifetime longevities offer the possibility to ensure scalability and longevity of impact.
2. Mobility & Logistics
Circularity in this sector permits strong CO2 emission reductions while reducing other disturbances such as noise pollution and poor air quality. It also promotes more connected and supported communities.
3. Water & Wastewater Management
Optimise water management to meet increasing water demand by designing out wastewater and keep resources in use. Moving towards resource recovery centres may make water treatment sites carbon neutral, or potentially negative. Establish solutions enabling a faster energy transition and energy efficiency maximisation.
4. Energy 5. Waste Management 6. Knowledge Sharing
Management of the waste supply chain from its source to disposal with the aim to design out waste. Data-heavy sector permitting fast and large change. Boost circular awareness in society to provide the necessary tools for circular economy involvement of businesses and individuals. Educating individuals is the starting point to embed circularity in every other sector and is at the core of change.
7. Economic Development
Stakeholders may want to participate but often need guidance and support to integrate circularity in their business models and activities (i.e. funding, circularity implementation guides).
8. Food
Close the nutrient loop by undertaking activities and establishing policies which promote sustainable food/agricultural systems.
a) Figure based on interview findings
10
2
Approach to Solve Existing Challenges
Circularity does not need to be regarded as a separate agenda. Instead it is an approach to address challenges in the city context across sectors. Four exemplary areas are identified below where circularity can be used to address existing city issues. Increase cities’ resilience and adaptation to external shocks by • Preserving ecosystems • Promoting digitalisation • Monitoring cities’ material flows
Boost sustainable economic growth models by • Aligning growth with Social and Environmental targets • Increasing local employment • Promoting innovation • Value from waste
3
COVIDresponse
Create a more healthy environment and raise life-quality by • Promoting sustainable living in symbiosis with environment Overall Health & • Reducing health hazards Wellbeing • Improving air quality
Circularity as a tool
Just and Fair Economic Development
Climate Change
Foster climate change adaptation and mitigation by • Lowering carbon footprint • Raising sustainability awareness • Reducing energy demand • Promoting green energy sources
City Levers – What can be done
Three mutually reinforcing levers were identified that city administrations can engage to promote circular economy within their cities:
Take Action
Convene Stakeholders
Create an engaged ecosystem
• Align city-controlled operations with circularity targets to showcase leadership
• Form cooperations with the private-sector to maximise impact and visibility
• Provide clear rules & regulations to create change that would not come freely
• Establish a clear communication strategy for city achievements as part of the leadership approach
• Bring stakeholders together to discuss how they can cooperate in circular ways
• Create strong incentives that engages as many stakeholders as possible on circular solutions
• Set ambitious circularity targets that are open for others to follow
• Provide a platform to share knowledge between stakeholders
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4
Source of Resilience Post-COVID
There is no doubt that circular thinking can make cities more resilient against the health crisis. However how and when to best apply these concepts is perhaps less evident for many places. The current pandemic has heightened many current city challenges: Health & Wellbeing; Inequality; Climate Health & Change Wellbeing Economic Recovery: Climate change In the short term, we observe a divergence in circularity and current economic recovery actions. Current actions are moving towards reinforcing existing linear models of consumption instead for promoting circular models.
Tackling Inequality
Fair Economic Recovery
Cities should therefore act on promoting circular initiatives with a strong business case and/or little capital investment. Creating small wins in the short term can build confidence promote further future action. An example can be seen below: Digitalization is a key aspect of circular cities as it reduces the need for material resources and provides for greater access to information. As part of the recovery, cities should implement technological solutions that both increase efficiency, reduce waste, and promote safe behaviours with reduced need for physical contact. In the medium to long-term‌ As previously discussed, circularity is a tool to address existing city challenges. It therefore also builds resilience against additional pressures brought on by health pandemics, natural disasters and other external stressors.
Circularity
COVID-19
While circularity supports the recovery, COVID sets the path for uptake of circularity by highlighting the importance of resilient local supply chains and the development of connected functional urban areas, since connectivity is a key principle of circularity.
To ensure long-term success cities should not have to rely only on their own resources. Instead many cities should seek to secure additional resources for circular initiatives. Especially since circularity can be a solution in a diverse range of sectors the funding sources available are equally diverse, ranging from sustainable infrastructure to social investments to more targeted strategic budgets, provided through regional, national or multinational organizations and governments. An example could be the funding becoming available through the Invest EU budget guarantee of the European Commission or World Bank programs.
12
5
Circularity Core Ingredients
Cities were asked to identify potential core ingredients to support uptake of circularity. Based on interviews and desk research, the following four core ingredients emerged: Clear understanding of circularity, and the possible implications for the city As circular cities is a new and still developing concept, a clear understanding of what circular economy is, and how circular cities go beyond this is not always clear. For effective implementation, a clear understanding of the theoretical concepts, paired with thorough analysis of the own city's situation is key to be able to make a transfer of theoretical ideas into practical implementation of impactful circular solutions. Strong messaging Clear communication of ambitions, goals, wins and transfer of general knowledge to all stakeholders within the city administration and beyond is vital to generate support. This includes signaling to decision-makers that circularity initiatives solve problems and have real-world impact. Especially in the beginning “easy wins� help to gain support. For private sector, direct outreach and partnerships seem to yield most involvement and response. Internal mainstreaming The city administration and political representatives should be committed to the circularity efforts and support its implementation in the city-controlled operations (e.g. administration, waste-management, water-management, public transport). Stakeholders within the city administration need to own the sustainability and circularity agenda, provide support and develop their own ideas of how to progress in an enduring manner in their field. If private businesses and the wider public see a credible effort, more support and contribution to those efforts will result. The elephant in the room – Funding constraints Whilst initial analysis and planning of circular initiatives within a city will be possible without the need for significant funding, at some point it was observed that resource constraints are preventing cities to continue their endeavours at the desired speed, and are limiting their extent. Sufficient funding can therefore be seen as a catalyst to enable project implementation at the desired pace. Common practice seems to be to fund a circularity team for the city through a dedicated budget, but then use separate resource pools for initiatives in the different sectors (e.g. waste budget for waste related circularity). Common terms used by cities to describe the necessary ingredients to move the circularity agenda forward:
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6
Measuring and Monitoring Circularity
What is the challenge around measuring progress in circularity? The desk research revealed a lack of consistency when it comes to setting clear targets around circularity in cities. Without established goals, there is a challenge in achieving rapid deployment of circular initiatives in urban areas beyond simple, isolated projects. Moreover, most cities interviewed expressed their concern over defining a method to measure how circular a city is, as there are no clear proxies for circularity and there is no common agreement on which metrics to use. The Circularity Monitoring Challenge
Setting smart and consistent targets
Tracking progress towards those targets by using relevant metrics
What are cities currently doing to tackle this issue?
Setting targets
Tracking progress
Currently, the most common form of setting targets for circularity is to adopt a broader perspective and express goals in terms of emissions reduction or decrease in waste (more than half of cities interviewed). For example, Copenhagen has pledged to be 70% circular by 2024 when it comes to waste and resource management, while the City of Sabadell aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 35% by 2030 by using circularity.
The monitoring of projects and initiatives in cities is closely linked to the targets established. As a result, most cities with circular initiatives tend to track progress by calculating the amount of emissions reduced or the quantity of waste prevented. The real issue here is that there is no established metric to measure circularity in a city.
Some cities are bolder in stating their objectives, such as Peterborough which aims to �be operating as a truly circular city by 2050�. If setting targets associated with emissions and waste reduction is a good start, there is room for improvement to set specific circularity targets which help promote the agenda for circular economy.
Nevertheless, some cities have started developing initiatives to track circularity more broadly. The City of York in particular is working on a framework involving 6 types of capital (Financial, Manufactured, Natural, Human, Intellectual & Social) and defining clear metrics for monitoring each of them. This kind of initiative should inspire other cities to establish more comprehensive monitoring methods and collaborate in defining standardised metrics for circularity.
14
Getting Started
Towards achieving and sustaining city circular leadership
Depending on the maturity score cities get with the maturity model (i.e. Circular Aware, Circular Maker or Circular Leader), they can engage at different steps of the roadmap below. A circular aware city is advised to begin at Stage 1 whereas a circular maker may want to begin at stage 2, considering they will have already taken first steps. The assumptions on the ingredients qualifying a city as a Leader, Maker, or Aware were taken into consideration, as explained in prior Framework section. Circular Aware Circular Maker Circular Leader
Step 1
The different stages at which cities can undertake the roadmap are shown with the help of colours representing the various maturities. Yellow represents the cities that are either just starting the journey or that are slightly aware of circular principles but that have not implemented any clear actions. Blue is for circular makers and green for circular leaders. Further guidance on these steps is provided in the Appendix.
Current State of Play: Understand where you are to better guide the process forward
Overarching & Sector-level Circularity Policies: Have a guiding vision for the city alongside technical plans for implementation at the sector level
Step 3
Step 4
Step 2
From Policy to Concrete Actions: Accelerate the implementation of projects to create short-term wins and institutionalise change
Engaging the Entire Ecosystem: The private sector, civil society, communities, regional and international bodies must be engaged during the development of the strategies but especially when scaling projects
Evidence Value: Monitoring, reporting and verification ensures a continuous learning process.
Step 5
15
Further research Opportunities The work presented provides an important building block on the journey towards embracing circularity in the cities market. Four areas of further research are recommended to strengthen the ability of the cities market to deliver best practice circular cities:
Extend the sample of cases The desk research was mainly done online. Some good practice projects may have been omitted, as cities might not have communicated them widely, or some projects might not have been considered as circular initiatives. Additionally, a detailed analysis of the social and economic background of the cities studies could reveal interesting trends.
Consider circularity beyond the city Cities are not isolated islands; they form an ecosystem with regions and states. Some challenges require planning and action at an above-city level, such as hazardous waste management. This calls for a study of how circularity could be scaled beyond the city level and how the initiatives taken at national and regional levels could be connected with the circular projects undertaken in cities.
Diversify cities sampled, notably in the developing world The interview insights could be enriched by increasing the number and the diversity of cities interviewed, looking for instance at developing cities. Adding a control group, both internally, by interviewing more people in each city, and externally, by including other cities, would be valuable to stimulate more interest of cities not engaged in circularity as yet.
Enrich the current maturity model to improve performance monitoring The initial maturity model developed is an approachable and practical means to assess the circular maturity of a city. Elaborating the details, deepening the levels of maturity, and aligning it with other measurement systems will help increase the uptake of assessment by all kinds of cities – which will stimulate action.
16
Conclusion: Vision for Cities In a post-COVID world, embedding circularity in cities is a secret weapon towards building long-term resilience and sustainability. Thus, by incorporating the various learnings from this report, the top six circularity goals cities should CIRCLE and prioritise are the following:
C I R C L E
ollaborate with other cities on the development of consistent metrics and initiatives, encouraging learning by doing ncorporate lessons from case studies and inventory of 300+ projects into their thinking and planning around the implementation of circularity eflect on the current state of play in the city to identify circularity synergies. Developing countries should take the opportunity to integrate circular principles from the beginning in their development ommunicate with a wide range of stakeholders, including young people, communities, civil society, businesses, and academia to spread the benefits of circularity everage the co-benefits of circularity to acquire financing and political support
xpand and adapt the maturity model to apply to specific sectors and individual companies
17
Appendices Expansion of maturity model
p. 19
Roadmap stages
p. 20
City sector case studies - Sector Cases 1 - Sector Cases 2 - Sector Cases 3 - Sector Cases 4 - Sector Cases 5 - Sector Cases 6 - Sector Cases 7 - Sector Cases 8
p.21-28 Built Environment Mobility Water Energy Waste Knowledge Sharing Economic Growth Food
18
Maturity Model in More Detail Circular Aware
Criteria
circular economy policy
No overarching policy targeting circular economy
•
Recent ambition of putting CE at the forefront of the agenda
•
Understanding of some circular economy concepts but lack of holistic vision
•
Good understanding of the CE concepts
•
Clear ambition targeting circular economy (not luck)
•
Holistic vision of CE and understanding that it requires a systemic change
Difficulty outlining a consistent overarching policy
•
Good understanding of the city’s current situation and of the material flows
Lack of vision on where • the city needs to be towards CE in 5 or 10 years • CE isn’t at the core of the strategy, it’s rather included “randomly” in • some projects
Some strategic elements around CE initiatives
•
Clear short- and mediumterm targets and objectives
CE might be integrated in the strategy for a specific department or sector
•
Detailed action plan per sector to reach targets
•
More than 1 sector is not covered at all
•
•
•
CE is integrated in some sectors but it’s rather due to luck and not to a clear ambition of putting CE as the guiding principle
Coverage of most of the sectors – there might be one sector which has been left aside
Wide coverage of the sectors considered for the study (at least one project or initiative per sector)
•
Inequality in sector coverage: some sectors are covered quite in-depth while less focus is being put on others, reflecting the differences in strategy across sectors
•
In-depth coverage of at least 2 or 3 sectors showing that CE is guiding the strategy
•
Public policy can enable some private initiatives
•
•
Cooperation between private and public actors in some specific sectors, but • no cross-sectoral communication
Establishes cooperation and communication between public and private actors
•
Sector coverage
public & private sectors
Circular Leader •
•
Strategy and roadmap
Circular Maker
•
•
No real support from local authorities to businesses and private actors
•
Sporadic, independent, private-led initiatives without any communication beeen stakeholders
Roadmap is quite blurry and doesn’t allow for a real implementation of CE
• •
Projects are not the result of a public policy process
Circular projects
Impacts and monitoring ACTION
•
Monitoring of projects is done at the project level, without an overarching methodology
•
Poor quantification of impacts
Where are you now?
•
Part of the strategy outlined • has not yet been implemented through • concrete projects
Knowledge sharing between stakeholders and constant feedback is given by project leaders City policy serves as a CE enabler for private actors Concrete CE projects already implemented Projects reflect the overarching strategy
•
Some projects are the result of private initiatives, without any link with the city strategy
•
Monitoring methods might have been created at the sector or department level
•
Clear methodology for measuring and quantifying impacts of CE projects
•
Impact quantification is still limited and is not used to motivate new projects
•
Existing projects are already being monitored and a first set of impacts can be presented
Where do you want to be in 2-5 yr time horizon?
19
Roadmap Stages Stage 1: Current State of Play A city should undertake an analysis of its current priorities and how circularity can be used to achieve them to support a systematic and consistent approach to circularity. In the cities interviewed, the two main recurrent priorities were:
Sector/Industry-based Material Flow Analysis
(1) Adaptation and mitigation to climate change and, (2) Covid-19 recovery
Sector/Industry Priorities
In these cases, circularity is an approach to improve the city’s resilience while lowering its carbon footprint – an example of an important synergy. Cities should undertake a sector-based material flow analysis to get a better overview of the city’s overall material movements and state. In addition, in the formulation of the current priorities, SDGs could be used as a tool to further guide the undertakings to ensure people and the environment are at the heart of action.
Overall Cities Priorities
How can it be used to meet cities priorities?
How engrained is circularity?
What is the SDGs alignment?
Stage 2: Overarching & Sector-level Circularity Policies Once the current situation and priorities have been observed, an overarching circularity strategy embedded in the city’s vision and agenda needs to be developed. A successful circular strategy and policies need to have:
Clear Goals & Ambitions
Timeline
Sector-wide Integration
Stage 3: From Policy to Concrete Actions
Stage 4: Engaging the Entire Ecosystem
Stage 5: Evidence as Value
For circularity to take shape, clear projects and initiatives that are aligned with the city’s overarching circular economy strategy need to be implemented. An organized execution approach should be undertaken with each activities having clear objectives and directions.
To have a successful, sector-wide, complete and efficient circular approach, the engagement of the entire ecosystem towards public value is key. Thus, tools such as circular implementation guides or financing aids should be provided by cities to different parties for them to embed circular principles in their daily actions.
With the lack of circularity measures, cities should share with each other their best circularity practices. Communication and collaboration between diverging cities would permit to highlight key success factors and solutions to potential implementation barriers. Furthermore, cities could collaborate to produce a metric that would track circularity.
20
Sector Cases 1: Promoting circularity in the urban built environment Cities typically depend on external sources for the supply of raw materials and for dealing with their construction waste. Circular management of the built environment provides an opportunity to reduce material consumption, redesign urban areas and reuse construction waste. Buildings must be circularly designed, constructed and used while construction materials can be sourced through reusing, remanufacturing and recycling existing assets. Key success factors for this area are a complete material flow analysis, a holistic approach encompassing the seven concepts of circular economy as stated by the City of Peterborough7 and a strong cooperation between the public and private sector.
Circular Living in the Old Dockyards8 Ghent
Resource Management in construction9 Brussels
The Old Dockyards is a waterfront housing project which aims at closing the loop at the district level. Approximately 1,500 housing units will be constructed through public-private partnerships (PPPs). Buildings use heating systems based on biogas from black water while the whole neighbourhood serves as an open playground for citizens to experience the circular economy through shared mobility, a circular dialogue café and educative exhibitions.
The 2014 Urban Metabolism of the Brussels Capital Region showed that the construction sector consumed 20% of incoming material flows, produced 30% of the region’s non-household waste and accounted for 84% of the total material stock mass in the region.
In this project, the City of Ghent was successful in using PPPs to involve different stakeholders and managed to bring together companies, institutions, governments and citizens on the way to circularity.
The City of Brussels has developed a methodology to inventory available resources, by identifying, removing and quantifying components from deconstruction works. Those materials are then reused to maximize the value of construction and demolition waste. Success here comes from a thorough analysis of the situation and from effective participation of private contractors.
Buiksloterham: designing a fully circular neighbourhood10 Amsterdam Buikslotherham was once the site of Amsterdam’s most polluting industries and is currently being transformed into a sustainable area to live and work. The development office of Amsterdam’s Municipality, the local water utility and an important local developer collaborated to establish a clear circular vision for the neighbourhood based on the Circualr City Framework and designed a consistent action plan to achieve ambitious targets. The project combines systemic interventions such as developing an inclusive governance and management structure, with technical interventions such as building flexible infrastructure capacity and designing roof real estate. By conducting a material flow analysis but more importantly by developing a holistic vision integrating every concept of the circular economy, the City of Amsterdam is on the way to achieving its goal of designing a fully circular neighbourhood through the built environment. 7
City of Peterborough, 8Eurocities, 9Brussel Environment; 10Circular Buiksloterham
21
Sector Cases 2: Circularity for a clean mobility and logistics sector Mobility and logistics are key to a well-functioning city and play an important role in its carbon footprint. Circularity offers a sensible path towards cleaner transport means and logistics. It tends to promote electrification of mobility modes such as public buses and subways. Examples on how what is meant by circular activities in the mobility and logistics sector in Eindhoven, Maribor and Shenzhen are provided in this section.
LED Lighting System11 Eindhoven
Strategy for Clean Energy Transition12 Maribor
In 2013, the city of Eindhoven established a LED lighting System in the city streets. The With this system, street lights lit up automatically from sensors which detect movements from pedestrians and vehicles.
The city of Maribor established a strategy to transition towards a clean mobility sector. It comprises 6 core activities to meet this objective such as, setting up common services for public-sector companies and transport vehicles, boosting renewable energy and joint purchases of public transport vehicles, and providing alternative city centre delivering systems that are in line with cooperative economy principles and promote local supply.
It enabled the city of Eindhoven to make substantial energy costs savings and reduce its carbon footprint. Furthermore, these results were obtained without any impediments to public safety. Success from this scheme came from the centralized technology establishment throughout the city and well managed PPPs.
Such strategy permits the involved parties to have a better understanding of what is required.
Electric Buses13 Shenzhen In 2017, the city of Shenzhen decided to replace conventional public buses by electric ones With this initiative, Shenzhen became the first city in the world to electrify its entire fleet of public buses. As a result, it enabled the city to reduce its CO2 emissions, diminish its noise pollution and improve its air quality. Additionally, it allowed for the expansion of the public buses sector which now provides more than 16,000 electric buses. Moreover to sustain this movement towards sustainable public transports, the city built a substantial amount of bus charging stations and points. Success came from the financial help provided by the government and the use of costeffective services. 11
Veolia Group,
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Wcycle Institute Maribor, 13Ellen MacArthur Foundation
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Sector Cases 3: Improving water and wastewater management with circular principles Optimising water use and reuse to meet increasing water demand and scarcity. A circular approach in this sector designs out wastewater, keeps and regenerates the resources in use.
Circularity in water treatment14 Samsø
Development of the non-potable water network15 Paris
Nested between Jutland, the continental portion of Denmark, and Zealand, home to the capital Copenhagen, Samsø is 50 km away from either coast, making efficiency in water management a necessity.
The City of Paris has put the emphasis on making the most of its water resources, optimising the uses of its non-drinking water. It has set targets to generalise its use whenever the drinking quality of water is not required, for example in green spaces,
Since 2014, it hosted a project aiming at implementing the circular economy model in the water treatment industry. The project was based on the idea that sewage water could be separated upfront in a water fraction containing nutrients and a fraction of organic matter that can be used for biogas production. Working with Nordphos, the company that developed the technology, Samsø has managed to close the loop on wastewater by reusing the nutrient fraction for crop watering and exploiting the organic fraction of it to produce biogas, providing inhabitants with food and energy.
The Blueprint for the non-potable water network and uses has been adopted in 2015 and is currently allowing the City of Paris to optimise and modernise the network. To illustrate this, Paris has started upgrading its production and is working on developing new uses to cool the city, fitting under its climate change adaptation strategy The City has also worked on installing sub-meters in green spaces to monitor consumption remotely and control water consumption more efficiently.
Cloudburst Management Plan16 Copenhagen The capital city of Denmark, located between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, is particularly vulnerable to sea level rise and heavy rain events. To prevent any further damage caused by the water inundating the city during cloudbursts events, the City adopted the Cloudburst Management Plan in 2012. The Plan detailed a comprehensive restructuring of the Copenhagen drainage system and streetscape, complemented with greenscaping, which relates to building of green gardens and bioswales to prevent rainwater from flowing into sewers. Inspiring from the concepts of circularity, rainwater and waste water are separated upfront to make the most of both resources.
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Nordphos;
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City of Paris; 16 C40
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Sector Cases 4: Moving towards clean and sustainable energy Solutions enabling a faster energy transition and energy efficiency maximisation. Innovative solutions in the sector such as energy recovery from waste can boost the switch to clean and sustainable energy sources.
Waste-to-energy Combined Heat and Power plant17 Kristiansand In Kristiansand, Norway, the city has partnered with Ramboll to set up a large scale waste-to-energy plant in 2010. The plant treats 120,000 tonnes of waste annually, sourced from Kristiansand and 20 surrounding localities, and produces 260 GWh district heat and 100 GWh electricity. More interestingly, the local district heating system was further developed after the construction of the plant. Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants are typical examples of how circularity principles can be applied in the energy sector.
Circular Energy Production from various sources18 Rotterdam The Port of Rotterdam Authority has pledged to combat climate and to lead the energy transition, encouraging circular energy production. Finish fuel producer NESTE worked with the City to set up a renewable diesel refinery in the Port. Ten renewable raw materials, 80% waste and residual material and 20% vegetable oils, are treated with hydrogen to produce this low carbon fuel. Based in Rotterdam, BroodNodig uses bacteria to convert bread waste into biogas. Collaborating with neighbourhoods for raw materials and with local bakeries to sell the biogas, BroodNodig keeps the energy circle round.
Closing the bio-cycle loop19 Belo Horizonte The City of Belo Horizonte has contracted with Italian company Asja to recover and treat the methane produced by one of its biggest landfills. Recovering and utilizing gas from the decomposing organic matter in sanitary landfills for energy generation represents a closed-loop bio-cycle, and a 4.5MW energy plant has been operating since 2007. The City of Belo Horizonte was particularly successful in this project because it took opportunity of an innovative funding and financing mechanism, namely the Clean Development Mechanism. Today, the site has been expanded to host a complex web of circular economy enterprises.
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State of Green; 18 Rotterdam Circulair; 19 (H. Brown, 2018)
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Sector Cases 5: ‘Closing the loop’ with sustainable waste management practices The World Bank projected that the growing urban population would triple today’s amount of waste produced by 2100. Therefore, cities have the opportunity to play a key role in developing the needed sustainable waste management supply chain at a local level. Furthermore, upcycled waste can provide the needed material to create an alternative renewable energy source, such as biogas, for the town. Waste management is often the first area where cities take actions as it is probably the sector with the most available data. The following section will highlight 3 circular waste management examples undertaken by Rotterdam, Paris and Milan.
Green Port20 Rotterdam
Collection of Organic Waste21 Paris
Substantial amounts of concrete rubble and soil waste are accumulated due to demolition work in and around Rotterdam. To tackle this problem, the Green Port project was launched in 2013. It consisted of constructing a 5 kilometres environmentally-friendly bank with the excess quantities of soil and bulk concrete rubble. This project enabled to create a tidal area and the formation of new habitats for birds, fish and plants. Furthermore, in 2018 monitoring systems were established to analyse better the project’s evolution and water variables (e.g. velocity, direction).
Since 2014, solutions to centralize the collection of organic waste from schools, municipal canteens and food markets have been introduced by the Paris City Hall. Indeed, source sorting and separate organic waste collection have been implemented in four municipal canteens.
Success factors were good PPPs, systematic approach and constant monitoring.
In 2017, to further support the cleanliness of the city a third sorting bin collecting household food waste was installed in two neighbourhoods. The provision of consistent food waste collection points at the source and the integration of such practices in public contracts enabled a successful implementation.
Door to Door household waste collection22 Milan
First starting in some quarters of the city, Milan introduced, in 2012, a bi-weekly door to door collection of household organic waste and in 2014 this was established throughout the entire city. Different sorting bins and bin bags reducing unwanted odours were used to ensure a more successful implementation of the initiative. The objective of this scheme is to divert food waste from being burned and make use of it for biogas and good quality compost creation. Success comes from systematic implementation throughout the entire city and the alignment with the overarching ambition to recycle 50% of its waste. 20Rotterdam
Circulair, 21City of Paris, 22European Union
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Sector Cases 6: Enabling the transition to a circular economy through knowledge sharing Knowledge sharing about circular economy principles and how they can be embedded in daily activities play an important role in the development and spread of circularity in cities. Indeed, circular knowledge networks and platforms can accelerate the transition to a circular economy by expanding the overall city’s expertise while facilitating collaboration and communication. first area where cities take actions as it is probably the sector with the most available data. The following section will discuss 3 knowledge sharing and cooperation examples undertaken by Ljubljana, Singapore and Toronto. These sector cases successes were found to be stemming from strong PPPs, clear communication and exposure.
Terrain Park23 Ljubljana The Terrain Park is a construction area that was transformed in a place nurturing circular economy urban culture development. At the Terrain Park, a wide variety of stakeholders ranging from companies to students can participate in different circular economy projects and initiatives. The objective of the centre are to promote an active inclusion of all stakeholders (NGOs, companies, associations, citizens, students, etc.) and to have a tangible representation of the circular economy at the city-level. Furthermore, all the materials and items found at the park are made out of waste.
Bring Your Own Schools24 Singapore In partnership with S.E.A. Aquarium, Zero Waste Singapore launched a programme to educate students about plastic waste and marine litter. Through seminars and exhibitions students are taught about the detrimental effects of marine litter on water ecosystems. Moreover, they are encouraged to make use and bring their own reusables containers, cutlery, bag and utensils. Furthermore, a system was established where students bringing their own reusables and thus reducing the amount of waste produced by the school can earn rewards for they good actions.
Circular Economy Forum25 Toronto The city of Toronto is hosting the 2020 Circular Economy Forum. The event consists of bringing together companies, leaders, politicians, experts and policy makers to discuss and find potential circular economy solutions. It enables national and international conversations to take place and to further promote the efficient use of natural resources, low carbon footprint of different entities and waste minimisation that could enable a faster transition to a sustainable and clean economy.
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Protoroz, City of Ljubljana, 24Zero Waste SG, BYO Singapore, 25SWR Staff
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Sector Cases 7: Circularity for better and sustainable economic growth Promotion of businesses whose products and services incorporate circular economy principles. City action ranges from financing allocated to help companies innovate their business models to enabling circular economy start ups to access market spaces to launch their products.
Resource Innovation and Solution Network26 Phoenix The RISN is an initiative from the Arizona State University which recognizes waste as a resource and sees opportunity into it. It conducted a study in 2016 to evaluate the potential contribution of the implementation of circular economy practices in Phoenix. The results show that 1.9$ billion GSP could be produced and that more than 34,000 tons of PET, glass and metals could be diverted from landfills each year. To accelerate the uptake of the circular economy in the city, the RISN launched an incubator for niche business entrepreneurs who are in the early-stages of a waste-toproduct innovation. The RISN incubator provides the required resources, including Phoenix’s waste, and expertise to test concepts, build a company and scale to market.
National Resource Efficiency and Environmental Innovation Program27 Tel Aviv The City of Tel Aviv is taking opportunity of a national initiative which aims at encouraging companies to implement circular model applications. 143â‚Ź million are to be invested directly in circular economy projects, with an additional 15â‚Ź million financing resource efficiency in the industry. This shows the importance given to the circular economy and highlights that it is seen as a vector of economic development. The City of Tel Aviv has shown great interest in using the funds available to promote the uptake of circularity in its urban area, building a business case for other Israeli cities to follow the lead.
Circular London initiative: thriving through circularity28,29 London The City of London is paving the way when it comes to promoting circular economy across multiple stakeholders. It has created Advance London in 2017, a business advice programme supporting SMEs to transition to more circular business models. The main objectives include resource efficiency and new revenue streams creation, in 5 key sectors. The city has also launched the Circular London Accelerator, in partnership with Carbon Trust, to help start-ups grow to commercialise their innovation. By launching those 2 initiatives, the City of London is creating the conditions for circular businesses to thrive and to help the municipality reduce the amount of waste and CO2 emitted. 26
RISN; 27 Flanders; 28 EREK; 29 Circular London
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Sector Cases 8: Reaching sustainable food management by closing the nutrient loop Circularity in the food sector plays an important in the management and development of sustainable cities. Indeed, circular principles emphasises natural capital regeneration, thus, this section involves policies and activities in the food sector that close the nutrient loop. Innovation in this sector can be used to promote sustainable food and agricultural systems such as using food waste for agriculture purposes. Further examples on how circularity can be embedded in the cities’ food industry are elaborated below by highlighting initiatives and projects undertaken in Helsinki, Peterborough and San Francisco.
Smart & Clean Urban Food30 Helsinki
Big Barn31 Peterborough
The Smart and Clean Urban Food Project promotes a sustainable approach to consumption and production in the food industry by integrating circularity principles. It focuses on building a sustainable local food system by enabling businesses to become responsible in their production activities.
Big Barn is a project undertaken by the Peterborough Environment City Trust (PECT) which aims at boosting sustainable and local products purchases.
Moreover, with the aim to phase out food waste and close the nutrient loop, local foods marketplaces based upon the fundamentals of the circular economy are created further permitting synergies between producers and consumers. Its corresponding success mainly came from strong collaboration between the involved parties and logistic streamlining.
More specifically, it wants to deflect citizens from purchasing food commodities in supermarkets to responsible consumption in small local shops. Success came from the development of the Big Barn Map showing all the places where sustainable, responsible, locally grown and fresh food can be bought. Hence easing out the entire process and providing more exposure.
Food Service Waste Reduction Ordinance32 San Francisco In 2007, the city of San Francisco established a regulation which requires restaurants and any food vendors to provide to-go containers that are compostable or recyclable. Therefore, food that is served in the city of San Francisco needs to be in disposable food ware that meet those requirements. In addition, the food vendors and restaurants are prohibited from using polystyrene foam disposable food ware. The law was successfully implemented from the good collaboration between the government and restaurants. Furthermore the clarity of the written obligation targeting all the parties preparing and serving food permitted further positive project development. 30
Smart & Clean, , 31Future Peterborough, 32SF Environment, EPA
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